fix(installer): pass -IncludeDesktop to manifest, surface launch errors, alias hermes desktop

Three bugs found in the first VM end-to-end test:

1. install.ps1 -Manifest was called WITHOUT -IncludeDesktop, so the
   manifest came back with the 14-stage list (no desktop stage), the
   UI showed '14 steps' and Stage-Desktop never ran. Pass the flag to
   both the manifest fetch and the per-stage runs — install.ps1 gates
   the desktop stage's inclusion on the flag.

2. The Success screen's Launch button silently swallowed the Tauri
   error when no Hermes.exe existed (e.g. Stage-Desktop was skipped).
   Wire the error through to inline UI with an alert callout, so the
   user gets actionable text ('Hermes.exe missing, run hermes desktop
   from a terminal') instead of an unresponsive button.

3. The Success screen tells users to run 'hermes desktop' from a
   terminal but the CLI only accepted 'hermes gui' — invalid choice
   for 'desktop'. Rename the subcommand canonically to 'desktop' with
   'gui' as a backwards-compatible alias. Update the _SUBCOMMANDS sets
   used by session-flag arg parsing + logging-mode probe so both names
   route to the same logic.

apps/bootstrap-installer/.gitignore

@@ -7,6 +7,12 @@
 /dist-ssr/
 *.local
 
+# TypeScript build info + tsc emit (we don't ship .js for the
+# vite.config.ts; Vite reads it directly via ts-node-style loader).
+*.tsbuildinfo
+vite.config.d.ts
+vite.config.js
+
 # Tauri generated artifacts (regenerated on each build)
 /src-tauri/gen/schemas/
 

apps/bootstrap-installer/src-tauri/src/bootstrap.rs

@@ -158,14 +158,24 @@ pub async fn get_bootstrap_status(
 
 /// Spawn the locally-built Hermes desktop binary, then close the installer
 /// window. Caller resolves the binary path from `install_root`.
+///
+/// Returns Err with a human-readable message if the binary doesn't exist
+/// (e.g. when Stage-Desktop was skipped) so the frontend can present
+/// actionable failure UI rather than silently doing nothing.
 #[tauri::command]
 pub async fn launch_hermes_desktop(
     app: AppHandle,
     install_root: String,
 ) -> Result<(), String> {
     let install_root = PathBuf::from(install_root);
-    let exe_path = resolve_hermes_desktop_exe(&install_root)
-        .ok_or_else(|| "Could not locate a built Hermes desktop binary".to_string())?;
+    let exe_path = resolve_hermes_desktop_exe(&install_root).ok_or_else(|| {
+        format!(
+            "Couldn't find a built Hermes desktop at {}. The desktop build step \
+             may have been skipped or failed. Run `hermes desktop` from a \
+             terminal to build and launch it.",
+            install_root.join("apps").join("desktop").join("release").display()
+        )
+    })?;
 
     tracing::info!(?exe_path, "launching Hermes desktop");
 
@@ -285,9 +295,18 @@ async fn run_bootstrap(
     ));
 
     // 2. Fetch manifest
+    //
+    // -IncludeDesktop MUST be passed to the manifest call too — install.ps1
+    // gates the desktop stage inclusion on this flag, so without it here
+    // the manifest comes back missing the desktop stage and we never run
+    // it. The per-stage call below also passes -IncludeDesktop to keep
+    // the contracts identical.
     let manifest_args = build_pin_args(&script);
     let mut manifest_args_full = vec!["-Manifest".to_string()];
     manifest_args_full.extend(manifest_args.clone());
+    if args.include_desktop {
+        manifest_args_full.push("-IncludeDesktop".to_string());
+    }
 
     let manifest_result = run_install_script(
         &app,

apps/bootstrap-installer/src/routes/success.tsx

@@ -1,16 +1,37 @@
+import { useState } from 'react'
 import { type CSSProperties } from 'react'
 import { Button } from '../components/button'
 import { launchHermesDesktop } from '../store'
-import { Rocket } from 'lucide-react'
+import { Rocket, AlertCircle } from 'lucide-react'
 
 /*
  * Success screen. HERMES AGENT wordmark stays as the visual anchor
  * (same Collapse Bold treatment as Welcome + the desktop chat intro),
  * with a status line below.
  *
- * No install-path footer — same rationale as Welcome.
+ * Launching the desktop can fail (e.g. Stage-Desktop was skipped and
+ * Hermes.exe doesn't exist). We catch the Tauri error and surface it
+ * inline rather than silently doing nothing — the previous version
+ * had `onClick={() => void launchHermesDesktop()}` which swallowed
+ * the rejection and left the user staring at an unresponsive button.
  */
 export default function Success() {
+  const [error, setError] = useState<string | null>(null)
+  const [launching, setLaunching] = useState(false)
+
+  async function handleLaunch() {
+    setError(null)
+    setLaunching(true)
+    try {
+      await launchHermesDesktop()
+      // On success the installer exits — control never returns here.
+    } catch (e) {
+      const msg = e instanceof Error ? e.message : String(e)
+      setError(msg)
+      setLaunching(false)
+    }
+  }
+
   return (
     <div className="hermes-fade-in flex h-full flex-col items-center justify-center gap-8 px-12 py-10">
       <div className="w-full max-w-2xl min-w-0 text-center">
@@ -40,13 +61,27 @@ export default function Success() {
       </div>
 
       <Button
-        onClick={() => void launchHermesDesktop()}
+        onClick={() => void handleLaunch()}
         size="lg"
+        disabled={launching}
         className="inline-flex items-center gap-2 px-6"
       >
         <Rocket size={18} />
-        Launch Hermes
+        {launching ? 'Launching…' : 'Launch Hermes'}
       </Button>
+
+      {error && (
+        <div
+          role="alert"
+          className="flex max-w-2xl items-start gap-2 rounded-md border border-destructive/30 bg-destructive/10 px-4 py-3 text-sm text-destructive"
+        >
+          <AlertCircle size={16} className="mt-0.5 shrink-0" />
+          <div className="min-w-0">
+            <div className="font-medium">Couldn&rsquo;t launch the desktop app</div>
+            <div className="mt-1 text-destructive/80">{error}</div>
+          </div>
+        </div>
+      )}
     </div>
   )
 }

hermes_cli/main.py

@@ -350,7 +350,7 @@ try:
         mode=(
             "gui"
             if next((arg for arg in sys.argv[1:] if not arg.startswith("-")), "")
-            in {"dashboard", "gui"}
+            in {"dashboard", "gui", "desktop"}
             else "cli"
         )
     )
@@ -10172,6 +10172,7 @@ def _coalesce_session_name_args(argv: list) -> list:
         "uninstall",
         "profile",
         "dashboard",
+        "desktop",
         "gui",
         "honcho",
         "claw",
@@ -11043,7 +11044,7 @@ _BUILTIN_SUBCOMMANDS = frozenset(
         "computer-use",
         "config", "cron", "curator", "dashboard", "debug", "doctor",
         "dump", "fallback", "gateway", "hooks", "import", "insights",
-        "gui", "kanban", "login", "logout", "logs", "lsp", "mcp", "memory", "migrate",
+        "gui", "desktop", "kanban", "login", "logout", "logs", "lsp", "mcp", "memory", "migrate",
         "model", "pairing", "plugins", "portal", "postinstall", "profile", "proxy",
         "send", "sessions", "setup",
         "skills", "slack", "status", "tools", "uninstall", "update",
@@ -14136,11 +14137,18 @@ Examples:
     dashboard_parser.set_defaults(func=cmd_dashboard)
 
     # =========================================================================
-    # gui command
+    # desktop (a.k.a. gui) command
+    #
+    # The canonical name is "desktop"; "gui" is kept as a deprecated alias
+    # for one release. The Hermes-Setup.exe success screen tells users to
+    # run `hermes desktop` from a terminal, so the canonical name needs
+    # to be the one that appears in --help (argparse promotes the primary
+    # name; aliases stay hidden).
     # =========================================================================
     gui_parser = subparsers.add_parser(
-        "gui",
-        help="Build and launch the native desktop GUI",
+        "desktop",
+        aliases=["gui"],
+        help="Build and launch the native desktop app",
         description=(
             "Launch the Hermes Electron desktop app. By default this installs "
             "workspace Node dependencies, builds the current OS's unpacked "